To the former he assigned the genus Thunnus and to the latter the genera 

 Katsuwonus . Euthynnus . and Auxis . Then on the basis of the fact that the 

 fishes of these two families possess the peculiar subcutaneous blood 

 vessels mentioned above and have the dark lateral tissue, with its vascular 

 plexuses, close to the spinal column, he separated them completely from the 

 Teleostei and set them up as a new Order called the Plecosteio He published 

 the following table of the classification of the Teleostomi with its accom~ 

 panying description of the Plecostei: 



"This Order can be easily and clearly distinguished from the other 

 fishes of the Teleostomi by the presence of well-developed subcutaneous 

 vessels. With the development of these vessels there is a supply of 

 capillary plexuses to the tissues on each side of the spinal column 

 forming the dark red portion called the chiai . etc." 



The table of classification which Kishinouye gave is as followss 



Crossopterygii 

 Chondrostei 

 Teleostomi Holostei 



Teleostei 

 Plecostei 



He had this further to say about the relationship between the Plecostei 

 and the Teleostei (where the tern Teleostei is used without qualification 

 in what follows, it is used in Kishinouye' s sense of the term): 



"The fishes of the new Order Plecostei are closely related to the 

 Scombridae, Istiophoridae, and Cybiidae among the Acanthopterygii of 

 the Teleostei, being particularly close to the Cybiidae, These are 

 the most advanced of fishes." 



In 1923 Kishinouye published in Number 3 of Volume 8 of the Journal of 

 the College of Agriculture of the Tokyo Imperial University a treatise on 

 the Plecostei. He described as follows the main points on which he differ- 

 entiated this Order from the rest of the Teleostomi; 



/"in EnglishJ 7 



"Group of teleostomatous fish, having a cutaneous vascular system, 

 connected with vascular plexus developed as sheets in the lateral muscle 

 Portions of the lateral muscle surrounded by these sheets of the vascular 

 plexus are situated on both sides of the vertebral column, and are dark 

 red, nearly black in color. Another peculiar vascular plexus is developed 

 on the inner side of the liver or in the haemal canal. Moreover the 

 circulation of blood in the liver is especially well developed." 



As he explained in the foregoing, Kishinouye lumped the Thunnidae and 

 the Katsuwonidae together and separated them from the Order Teleostei as 

 previously defined to form the new Order Plecostei. I have studied various 

 teleostean fishes to find out whether or not it is true, as he definitely 

 stated, that the subcutaneous blood vessels which are the most outstanding 



